I Am the Knight
by trarecar
Summary: Written for Weekly One Shot Challenge #27 from 10/2009:  Because in the land of predators, the liion never fears the jackal.


I was so glad when I heard the knock on the door. Knowing it was Eric without even having to look (yay blood bond?), I wrenched open the door and pulled him in towards me, folding myself tightly against him and squeezing him, relishing the feel of this strong arms around me, hoping they could take away the hurt I was feeling.

"Sookie? What's wrong?"

"Shhhh," I whispered against his chest. "Don't talk. Just hold me."

He did just that for a few seconds, and then tentatively asked, "Can we come inside the threshold first?"

Embarrassed, I let him go. "Sorry. Of course, come on in. I've just had a miserable day."

He followed me to the couch. "It's okay," he said, lowering down next to me and pulling me onto his lap. "What's wrong, lover?"

I sighed. "Tara's latest boyfriend beat the shit out of her. She's in the hospital right now. I just got back."

He said nothing. I knew he didn't care for Tara, and braced myself for his reaction. Instead he surprised me.

"Will she live?"

"Yes," I sighed. "She's there for a bad concussion. She's got some bruises and stuff but it's the concussion that has the doctors worried."

"Who is this latest man?"

"Von is all I know. She said he lives in Shreveport."

"I know a Von," he said, rubbing my back. "He's been in the club several times peddling drugs."

I sat up, shocked. "Seriously? You allow that?"

He looked at me pointedly. "I allow it when there are no undercover policemen in the club, yes. I don't concern myself with what customers do with their money unless they are attempting to find V. Those I take care of immediately."

"What do you do to them?"

He hesitated. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, I really want to know." I know vampires rule about punishing their own, but I'd always thought Eric was cautious about breaking human laws for the sake of Fangtasia.

"Those that come to Fangtasia in an attempt to get V, whether it is to buy it or bribe a vampire for it, are dealt with in a manner befitting them. I make it so they cannot do much of anything for a very long time."

I didn't know what to say. I couldn't say I didn't agree with him, and I was glad he hadn't said, "I rip out their throats and feed them to Pam," so I just sighed and lay back against his chest. "That's good, I guess."

His chuckle rumbled against my ear. "You guess? What would you do?"

"I don't know. If someone was going around stealing some kind of essence from me I might not be so forgiving."

"Oh, I am not forgiving, Sookie. They don't dare come into Shreveport again once I have found them out. I am not lenient."

I whispered, "Have you ever killed them?"

He didn't answer for several seconds. "I try to not make a habit of breaking human laws."

We sat there in silence, me worrying over Tara, him running his fingers through my hair. Finally, I said, "I hope I meet him one day. That bastard will get a piece of my mind."

"The police don't have him?"

"Tara won't press charges."

Eric's scoffed. "Tara is a fool."

Okay, yeah, I'm mad at Tara for not pressing changes, but she's my friend and I'm allowed to say that. No one else is. I sat up again. "Tara's had a hard life. She's doesn't think like the rest of us."

"You are making excuses for her, Sookie."

I jumped up, suddenly furious. "Yeah, I know I'm making excuses for her, but she's like a sister to me and I love her. I wish she wouldn't keep on making the same mistakes but it's not so easy for her, okay? She's never been able to count on anyone but me and I'm not going to force her to do this. As much as I want that asshole in jail I can't make her do it."

Eric leaned back and put his arms behind him over the couch. He was the epitome of arrogance. "Tara is pathetic. If she won't think of herself she should at least think of how her actions affect others."

I could only gape at him, completely lost for words. "You –how – if I – ARGH!" I hollered. I walked up to him and jammed my finger into his chest. "You. Are. An. Ass. How dare you sit there and judge her? You don't know anything about her or about my friendship with her. It's real easy for you to sit there all smug and condemn her for not doing anything, but you have no idea what it's like to be her."

"I would not-"

"You wouldn't have to do anything because you're a freakin' vampire! You're top of the food chain! Who's gonna mess with you?" I stalked off to my bedroom and slammed the door. I fell into the bed, face first and just laid there, taking deep breaths, trying to calm down. For several minutes there was complete silence and I wondered if Eric had left. I slowly rolled over and was about to get up when there was a knock on my door.

"Sookie?"

I sighed. "Yes."

"May I come in?"

My mouth quirked into a smile at Eric asking so tentatively. "Yeah, come on in."

He slowly opened the door and peeked in at me. "I'm sorry I made you mad." He almost looked contrite. I motioned him over to the bed. He sat down on the edge next to me.

"It's okay. I'm sorry I overreacted. I'm frustrated with her too, but if I insist she'll just shut me out, and then she won't have anyone." I curled up on my side, suddenly miserable again.

He laid his hand on my hip and leaned in to place a kiss on my collarbone. "She is lucky to have you."

I sighed and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Come here."

He lay down next to me and kissed me gently. I splayed my hands on his chest, and soon our kisses became not so gentle. Not much later our clothes were off and Eric was everywhere, and my mind was on nothing but him, what he was doing to me and what I could do to him. I fell asleep that night with the most delicious throbbing between my legs, my bones liquid, my mouth smiling with just how thoroughly I'd been had.

Tara was released the next day, and like always, she took my calls but kept insisting she was fine and didn't need anything. I knew she was embarrassed so I let her have her pride.

A few nights later, I was reading Arlene's Cosmo during a break and I decided to try something from "Twelve Way to Shock Your Man Tonight". I went to Tara's Togs to get what I needed, and was glad to see Tara smile at me in a mischievous way when I told her what I was looking for.

She chuckled and said, "We aren't that kind of place, Sookie." I blushed furiously. She grabbed me around the shoulders and laughed, "I'm just messing with you. I don't normally carry that kind of thing, but luckily for you, Valentine's Day is coming up and I happened to order some lingerie that I don't normally carry. Let me go get it out of the back." She did, and we giggled over the selection. I picked out a pair in red and paid, making small talk. She looked happy and I hugged her tight before I left. "I love you, Tara."

"I love you, too, girl. Have fun," she said, wriggling her eyebrows at me.

When I got a text from Eric towards the end of my shift the next night, saying he was coming over, I was giddy. I rushed home and showered quickly, dried my hair in record time and had just slipped on a little short sundress (new lingerie underneath) when Eric knocked on the door. I smiled at myself in the mirror and went to let him in. I knew he could feel my mood because when I opened the door, he had a canary-eating grin on his face and he stepped in, reaching for me without speaking. He cupped my head in his hands and kissed me softly but so deeply that I was soaking wet and itching to get him beneath me anywhere – bed, couch, floor. Didn't matter. The phone rang and I ignored it. I had plans for my big Viking and nothing was getting in the way of them.

"Sookie! Oh, God, Sookie, are you there? Please pick up!" Tara's frantic voice screeched through my answering machine. I pulled away from Eric's kiss and stared up at him, dazed. Wha-

"Come on, come on, come on, girl!"

I raced over to kitchen and snatched up the phone. "Tara! What's wrong?" I felt Eric come in behind me.

"It's Von! " Her voice was shaking. "I can't - I don't –"

"What? What happened? Is he there?"

"No! God, no! "She took a shuddering breath. "He's in the hospital. His sister called me, screaming at me because she thought I had something to do with him being there."

"What?" I turned around and looked at Eric. I knew he could hear everything Tara was saying. "Why would they think that?"

"I don't know! Apparently someone fucked him up pretty good and she thinks it's because of me. I don't know what the hell she's talking about. "

Eric's face was as smooth as glass. I gripped the phone tight. "Are the police coming for you?"

She barked out a bitter laugh. "No, that's the thing. When she was cussing me out I heard Von's brother in the background telling her to shut the fuck up and hang up the phone before she got them all killed. They started arguing and he told her to just say Von was jumped by folks he didn't know and to get off the fucking phone."

"Wow," I breathed. Indeed.

"I know!" Tara spoke so quickly I could barely understand her. "So she hung up without another word. I turned on the news and sure enough they had a story about a guy who was found severely beaten behind a garbage dump at a strip mall. He was unconscious and the police weren't releasing his name. I know it's him." She giggled manically. "I know it's him."

"I – I don't know what to say, girl." Eric went to the fridge and got out a TruBlood. "Um, congratulations? You okay? I mean – "

"I am more than okay. I hope that bastard dies." The phone was silent except for Tara breathing hard. Eric went to the microwave and warmed up the bottle.

Suddenly she asked, "Do you know anything about it?"

Shit. "What? " Eric sat down at the table; his legs spread out in front of him, leaned back and took a long swig. "How would I know anything about it?"

"I wasn't ever going to say anything, with you dating Eric and all, but –", Tara took a deep breath. "Von sold V. I thought maybe you would have heard something about through your vamp friends."

Eric and I stared at each other.

"I don't know anything about it, Tara. Me and Eric don't talk about that kind of stuff. "

"Oh."

"Besides, Eric stays on the up and up. He wouldn't put up with any of his vamps beating up humans."

"Why would they say it was because of me, then?"

"I don't know," I said, walking towards Eric with the phone still to my ear. I moved between Eric's legs and took the TruBlood from his hands. His eyes burned into mine. "Maybe there's somebody at the hospital that got upset at what he did to you. There's vigilantes out there. It didn't necessarily have to be something personal about you. It could have been because of him beating up on women in general. I bet you weren't the first girl that ended up there because of him."

"I didn't think of that," she said, sounding unsure. "Maybe."

"If the police come asking you about it, just tell them you don't know anything about it. He was a drug dealer. He could have been selling anything, not just V."

"Yeah."

I straddled Eric's lap, facing him. He put his hands on my hips.

"I say just let it go and be happy that bastard got what he deserved." I ground slowly against Eric's cock. He groaned and put his hands on my ass.

"Is Eric there right now?"

"Yes," I said, nodding my head and moving against Eric at the same time. Eric's fangs were fully extended.

"Damn," Tara said. "I'm sorry. I'll let you go. Thank you for answering the phone. I just – needed to know, you know?"

"No problem, honey. I understand." Eric ran his fangs down the side of my neck. I shuddered.

"I love you too." Silence. "Tell Eric I said thank you," she said quietly, and hung up.

I dropped the phone. "Tara said thank you."

Eric stood up, his hands on my ass, holding me up, my legs wrapped tight around his waist. I kissed him ferociously, letting my lips say what my heart was screaming right now. I love this man! Eric pulled my sundress over my head and slung it across the room, laving my breasts with his tongue, his lips, his fangs. He reached down between us to rub his fingers against me like I love him to do, and stopped, sucking in a breath.

"Sookie?"

I smiled seductively at him and pulled his face to mine. "And Sookie says thank you."

The crotchless panties shocked my man that night.


End file.
